Millions of dollars are spent annually on promotional programs involving coupons such as manufacturers' coupons which are redeemed by a consumer at a grocery and other store. Most manufacturers' coupons are delivered in local newspapers or mailed directly to a household and are distributed among as many consumers as possible. Further, such coupons are primarily intended to introduce consumers to a product rather than to provide a discount for every purchase of that product by the same consumer.
Coupon distribution poses a number of problems. Employees of a store can collect and redeem identical coupons from a number of promotional inserts carried within newspapers sold at the store. Further, there is little control over retailers who might send in a number of coupons for redemption whether or not goods have actually been purchased for those coupons.
There are several types of electronic coupon dispensing systems which issue coupons within a store. One system utilizes UPC scanner information to deliver coupons after a corresponding product is purchased. Misredemption may occur if the cashier scans the same product more than once or keeps the coupons intended for the shopper.
Other systems are operated by the shopper instead of the cashier. Several systems utilize a TV screen which displays textual information such as categories of coupons and lists of coupons within each category. The displays are not attractive or inviting to the shopper and many of the same coupons can be obtained by each shopper who actually uses the machine. One machine attempts to limit issuance of coupons by allowing the same coupon to be issued only once each time its category is selected. However, a shopper or retailer can alternate between categories and repeatedly withdraw the same coupons.
One system presents text on a touch CRT screen. Thirty or forty different coupons are listed on the screen and the consumer touches the appropriate portion of the screen to select a coupon. Touch CRT screens are very expensive, however, and the display is not inviting to the consumer.
Another coupon dispensing system reads cards having a magnetic strip, such as a credit card or bank teller card. This system compares the identification on the card with the identifications on the last several hundred cards presented, and allows use of the machine if the current identification does not match that of the previous several hundred transactions.
Yet another coupon dispensing system attempts to limit issuance of coupons by issuing an identification code to each consumer and permitting consumer access to the machine only once each distribution period. The consumer's identification code is printed on each coupon. Upon access a predetermined number of coupons are issued to the consumer whether or not the consumer plans to use the coupons within the expiration period. If the consumer returns to the store during that distribution period he is denied access to all coupons, even those that he had not used before but might be encouraged to use this time.